Women’s soccer shoots and misses against two opponents

By MICHAEL BARNES

The University of Mary Washington women’s soccer team is now 2-3 in their fall season after falling to Washington & Lee on Sunday, and to Messiah University on Wednesday, each game ending with a 2-1 final score.

The UMW ladies entered the W&L game after coming off a 3-0 win over Emory & Henry College (EHC), the UMW ladies came into the game with confidence.

The routing done by the Eagles over EHC was led by senior Capital Athletic Conference offensive soccer player of the week, Erin Reynolds, who recorded a hat-trick, scoring her 3rd, 4th and 5th goals of the season and bringing the UMW ladies to a 2-1 season.

The W&L Generals came into Sunday’s game eager to redeem themselves against the Eagles since their first loss of the season the day prior in a shutout by the ladies at Rowan University.

The opening minutes of the game involved strong passing and organized ball control, especially by the Eagles.

About four minutes into the match, a W&L player found herself wide open in front of the net, but hooked the ball far right, sending it to bounce off the post. UMW fans and players let out a sigh of relief after the attempted goal.

The Eagles also found the opportunity to score, but the netted shot was called back due to “tugging” on an opponent’s shirt.

At 22:56, Haley Ward of W&L was shoved on a shot attempt, which gave her the opportunity for a penalty kick.

With her kick, she hit the top left corner of the goal, just out of reach for UMW junior goalie Alyssa Goodwin, which put the Generals up 1-0.

Over the next few minutes, the Eagles continued the good ball control as they tried to find the opportunity to knot the score up at one a piece.

The opportunity presented itself as senior Excy Herrera lined up for the shot, but the attempt was stopped by the Generals’ goalie.

The first half ended with W&L in the lead 1-0.

The Eagles started the second half with a new found energy, as Reynolds fired the ball past the Generals’ keeper in the bottom right corner.

The next three shots taken were all by UMW players, a wide left attempt by Reynolds, a left short try by sophomore Lizzie Weast and another by Reynolds, all stopped by the W&L goalie.

After the three attempts by the UMW Eagles, they continued to control the ball.

The Generals finally stepped up in the second half as Lauren Abraham sent a sizzling shot towards the goal that Goodwin was just able to stop, saving the Eagles and keeping the score knotted up at 1-1.

The game began to get choppy as yellow cards were distributed to each team as tugging and shoving between opponents continued, causing shrieks towards the officials from parents and coaches of both teams.

As the game continued, each team missed more shots as the remaining time dwindled.

At 76:43 W&L took the lead on a drop by Goodwin, sent to her by the Generals’ Katie Rossi. This will put W&L up 2-1 with about 13 minutes remaining.

The Eagles were unable to muster up anything for the remainder of the game as they fell to the Generals, who improved to 3-1 for their season.

The Eagles will play again on Sunday, Sept. 15 when they host Methodist University at 3 p.m.